CatastrophicFailure

NS was also going a lot slower at Max Q, less than 500mph. F9 will be supersonic, so even with the engines canted away, I think that shockwave right on the tank front is gonna kill it. I imagine they’ll expect the worst but hope for the best with a downrange recovery. Or, come to think of it, they might use the opportunity to test their new automatic FTS system, too...

My wife... i just call them “Cat” and “Other Cat.” ...interchangeably...

Flying and certified to carry passengers, which may be a good long while in the BFR’s case. NS still continues along after, at greatly reduced prices. Today, in addition to flying across the country, you can still pay a “few” bucks for a quick flightseeing tour in an “obsolete” aircraft. I think NS and suborbital tourist flights still have a long money-making period ahead.

Probably nothing significant, but... So... (like the other guy said), December, then?

As I understand it, they were missing by around 50 meters. They are getting better at aiming the fairing, but increasing the net size also increases their margin for error, so it’s a little of both. Herr Steve is, after all, essentially a prototype for several more boats, so they want to get the bugs out now. and that thing could catch some scary-big bugs...

. . . crap Ok, on to Plan C...

If they’re just text, you could probably share them here (or rather in their own thread), just using the CODE function in the menu above if they’re only a couple kB.

Great, now all I need is a second mortgage! To the BatCave PoorHouse!

No, Ford is no longer a sponsor, badum-tish. Looks like there’s a covered one next to the upper hatch, surrounded by yellow space-tape.

While there are still many unresolved issues with this, keep in mind that a fully-fueled BFS is capable of one L of a boostback burn.

wiz00dle.

Get the— ... oh.

Couple more interesting tidbits:

It’s not just the heat, it’s the dynamic pressure. AKA hypersonic air drag and all the nasties it brings. And that MVac engine Bell is fragile as heck. Watch during a launch, just after staging, you’ll see a metal stiffening ring come loose from the end of the Bell. You could easily dent it with a hammer, it’s so thin. Protecting that is gonna be the big trick for re-entering a second stage. Doing a big retro burn is a likely way of doing this, but then it’ll still have to deal with the much higher G-forces from plunging faster into the thicker air, and most likely nose first, directing that force in a way it wasn’t designed for, in order to protect that engine Bell. And then you have the whole messy business of center of mass due to that heavy engine at the back. Realistically, I have no idea how they’re gonna pull this one off.

That’s right. Anything beyond the 2.4/22km zone gets deleted, with some unpredictable exceptions I still haven’t quite figured out (doesn’t help that I don’t play 1.4.x much ). You can get away with the ol’ “ditch the boosters high and fast enough to circularize then switch back and recover” switcheroo, but in actual practice that gets old fast. Theres a reason SpaceX uses a computer to do this. This is not that reason, but there is A reason...

IIRC, they added a “pseudo-physics” range increase recently, sometimes parts might reach the ground before you move too far and they get deleted, but it’s not very reliable.

@djr5899 too: yes, you’ll need a mod like StageRecovery, which is exactly what it says on the tin. It allows automatic recovery of ditched stages either by chutes or power assist, and is quite configurable. The stock game deletes anything that goes below 22km (over Kerbin) once it leaves physics range of your focused vessel, around 2.4km. There are mods to extend this range, too.

Well given the size of that net, they’re probably gonna catch all sorts of things. Hope Steve’s up to date on his shots Welcome to the new reality of spaceflight: when by-catch is an actual concern.

Well if she unjustly (illegally?) usurped the Throne, then it’s not really hers, now is it?

[i ams slow ninja terday] Now if only they could get that tricky motor controller figured out...

Not to mention the faceless bureaucrats who need to get re-elected/re-appointed who would need to authorize such an acquisition of nuclear materials by a private corporation. And they generally tend to listen to the loudest voices, not the most sensible ones...

Dat framerate doe...

Welcome back.

And just thing, when LUVOIR drifts sedately from the BFS’s cargo bay, JWST will only be 3 years away!

You have more faith in humanity than I do.